Separable hinge connection



Oct. 4, 1938. E. L. HARMON SEPARABLE HINGE CONNECTION Original Filed Oct. 18, 1935 l y 1C923 ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 4, 1938 PATENT omcs SEPARABLE HINGE CONNEQIION Edwin L. Harmon, Groton, N. Y.,, assignor to L C Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc., Syracuse,

N. Y., a corporation of New Stork Original application Qctober'18, 1935, Serial No.

45,530.' Divided and this application February 1s, 1937,, Serial No. 126,372

'2 Claims. (01. 16-1 -1 75 The invention relates to improvements in separable hinge connections. 7

A purpose of the invention is to provide a simple, sturdy, inexpensive and highly eflicient hinge connection between two elements which will permit ready and easy connection and disconnection of said elements and will hold said elements hinged together with said elements latched against accidental disconnection.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide an improved and efficient separable hinge connection between two elements whereby the elements may be swung to and from edg'ewisely abutted relation, are, latched against accidental 151 disconnection in all hingedly connected relations of said elements, and the latching means preventing accidental disconnection of said elements is inaccessible for release from one'iace of 'said elements at all times and is releasable by a finger piece exposed only when said elements are swung about the axis of their hinge connection out of edgewisely abutted relation.

A further purpose of the invention is to provide an efficient separable hinge connection for the i base and cover sectionsof a portable carrying and enclosing case ofthe kind hereinafter described for portable typewriting machines.

It is alsoa purpose of the invention to obtain any and all of the advantages with respect to 39.. construction and to operation inherent in the construction which is shown in the accompanying drawing and hereinafter particularly described as constituting thepreferred embodiment of the invention.

- In the accompanying drawing illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. l is a detail perspective View showing the left hand rear corner of a carrying case for a portable typewriting machine, with the cover section of the case swung upward and rearward relatively to the base section into a substantially vertical position; a

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear end View of the case with the cover section swung to closed position on the base section; V

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4. is asectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, but showing the case with its cover section swung fully open; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the case on the same line as Fig. 3 but showing the modeof connecting and disconnecting the cover and base sections of the case. 5.51 This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 45,530, filed October 18, 1935, and only so muchof the carrying case for a typewriting machine disclosed in said co-pending applicationas is necessary to an understanding of the subject matter of invention claimed in the present application is shown in the accompanying drawing.

This carrying ease is of the fiat box-like type which comprises a base section and a cover section,the'base section having a rectangular bottom wall which is provided with an upstanding rim extending around all four edges of said Wall, and the cover section having a rectangular top wall which is provided around its four edges with a depending rim adapted to abut edge to edge .5

with, or seat edge to edge on, the rim of the base sectionwhen the case is closed toencase a portable typewriting machine mounted on the base section. The case is provided with a handle (not shown) attached to the front end of the cover section, and is also provided at its front end with a suitable spring lock means (not shown) for locking the rims of the casesections together at the front end of the case to prevent unauthorized opening of the case. I 1

In the drawing, I0 is the bottom wall or baseboard of the base section of the case, I2 is the rearwall of the rim of the base section, IS the side walls of the rim ofthe base section, I! is the rear wall of the rim of the cover section, and I8 are the side walls'of the rim of the cover section which connect the front and rear walls of the rim of thercover section. A pair of separable and identical'hinges connect the rear rim walls l2 and I'Iof the two case sections, the two hinges (one of which is shown in the drawing) being located closelyadjacent the right and left hand sides of the case, and each hinge including a latch for preventing accidental and unauthorized separation of the hinge. Two Wide notches 2i (only one of which is shown) are formed in'the top edge of rim wall I2 of the base section, one near each end of said rim wall, to receive and provide clearance for parts of the hinges as hereinafter more fully described. That one of the 4. two identical hinges referred to, which is shown in the drawing, will now be specifically described. The pintle-carrying or base-section hinge leaf is formed of sheet metal and comprises a flat attachment portion 22 lying against the inner face of rim wall l2 of' the base section of the case and secured thereto by means of a pair of rivets 23, a fiat pintle-carrying portion 24 bent at a right angle to said attachment portion and overlying and seated upon the bottom wall of one of the notches 2|, two lugs extending rearward from opposite ends of portion 24 and rolled upward and forward and downward to form a pair of pintle rolls 25 slightly offset rearward from the outer or rear face of rim wall l2, and a pair of stop lugs 26 pendent from the inner edges of said rolled lugs and abutting the outer face of rim wall I2. A metal pintle rod 21 is fixedly held at its ends in pintle rolls 25 and extends horizontally between said rolls behind rim wall |2 opposite notch 2|.

The hook-carrying or cover-section hinge leaf is formed of sheet metal and comprises a flat attachment portion 28 lying against the inner face of rim wall I! and secured to the said rim wall by a pair of rivets 29, a fiat hook-carrying portion 30 bent at a right angle to portion 28 and overlying and abutting the lower edge of rim wall l1, and a hook portion or half-roll portion 3| for separable engagement with the pintle rod 21. The hook-portion 3| extends rearwardly and downwardly and forwardly from portion 30 to form a hook located slightly to the rear and below the lower edge of rim wall I! with the open throat of the hook facing forward. The nose of the hook is reduced in width to fit between stop lugs 26 and to provide stop shoulders 32 on the hook adapted to abut lugs 26 to limit opening swinging movement of the cover, the remaining portion of the hook being wide enough for its side edges to abut the inner ends of the pintle rolls 25 and prevent axial movement between the hinge leaves.

Part 28 of the hook-carrying hinge leaf has a latch guiding lug 33 struck up therefrom midway its side edges and has threaded therein midway its side edges, and between said lug 33 and the lower edge of rim wall IT, a shouldered stop and guide screw 34 for the hinge latch. The lug 33 and screw 34 lie in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the lower edge of rim wall I! and guide the hinge latch to slide perpendicularly to the top wall of the cover section and parallel to rim wall H. The latch is formed of sheet metal and comprises a metal strap having a relatively long guiding leg portion 35 slidable on part 28 of the hook-carrying leaf, a short throat-closing or pintle rod engaging leg portion 36 which lies parallel to the longer leg portion 35 and slidably abuts the outer face of rim wall IT to assist in guiding and bracing the latch and a fiat thrustreceiving portion 3] connecting said leg portions. Lug 33 and screw 34 extend respectively through aligned slots 38 and 39 which are formed in, and extend longitudinally of, leg 35 of the latch.

A coiled spring 40, one end of which is confined in a bore 4| which extends upward in rim wall I! from the lower edge of said rim wall, bears at its other end on thrust-receiving portion 31 of the latch and normally holds the latch in its projected latching position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, movement of the latch by the spring being limited by stop screw 34, as shown in Fig. 3. When the latch is projected by its spring 40, part 36 of the latch extends far enough across the open throat of hook 3| to engage over the pintle rod 21 and prevent the hook from separating from the pintle rod. The hook-carrying hinge leaf is provided with a clearance aperture 42 for parts 36 and 31 of the latch. By pressing against the outer face of part 31 of the latch, the latch may be slid into the release position shown in Fig. 5 wherein part 31 is within the uncover or leave unobstructed the open end or throat of the hook 3| to permit connection and disconnection of the hinged case sections.

Held to rim wall l2 at the outer face thereof slightly below and substantially midway the length of each of the pintle rods 2'! of the case hinges, and slightly below the level of lugs 26, of each hinge, is one of a pair of hemispherical metal buttons 43 which project rearward from rim wall I2 slightly farther than the pintle rolls 25 and hooks 3| of the hinges. The buttons 43 have tangs or prongs 45 driven into the rim wall l2.

To open the case and detach the cover section, the lock (not shown) at the front end of the case is released and the cover swung open. It is then simply necessary for the operator to grasp the two lower corners of the opened cover and press rearward with the thumbs on the now exposed and accessible thrust-receiving portions 3'! of the hinge latches, whereupon the cover may be lowered as in Fig. 5 to disengage the hooks 3| from the pintles, and the hooks will, upon further lowering movement of the cover, be guided downward and outward from under the pintle rods by the cam or rounded surfaces of buttons 43 and by the stop lugs 26.

To re-connect the cover and close the case the cover is grasped in the hands in up-ended position and pulled forward with the hooks resting on the upper halves of buttons 43 and with parts 31 of the latches abutted against the pintle rods, thus causing the latches to be pressed into release position and the cover to rise, the buttons 43 camming the cover upward and, in connection with lugs 26, guiding the hooks closely up under the pintle rods into the position shown in Fig. 5. A slight upward lift of the cover will then engage the hooks about the pintle rods and release the latches for automatic projection by their springs 40 over the pintle rods, thus locking the hinges against separation. The cover may then be swung closed, and be locked by the look (not shown) at the front of the case.

The notches 2| afford clearance for portions 30 and 24 of the hinge leaves, and also afford clearance for the projected ends of the latches when the case is closed so that closure of the case will not release the latches. The pressure-receiving portions 3'! of the latches are only accessible when the cover is swung open.

What I claim is:

l. A separable hinge comprising a hook, a leaf to which said hook is fixedly held, a pintle passable through the throat of said hook and engaged between its ends in said hook, a reciprocable latch mounted on said leaf to slide crosswise of the leaf and transversely of the pintle into and out of a latching position in which the latch is projected across the throat of the hook to block passage of the pintle through said throat, a spring for projecting said latch into latching position, said latch having adjacent said hook an end face for receiving pressure to release the latch, and a second leaf to which the opposite ends of the pintle are rigidly held and which covers and uncovers said pressure-receiving end face of said latch in different angular relations to said hinge leaves.

2. A separable hinge comprising two hinge elements separably hooked together for relative pivotal movement, a latch slidably held to one of said elements for sliding into and out of a latching position in which it blocks unhooking of said elements and having an actuating portion which is respectively exposed for operating access thereto and rendered inaccessible by relative 35 leaf into and out of a position in which the actupivotal movement between said separably hooked elements.

3. For hingedly and separably connecting the base and cover sections of a typewriter enclosing case the said sections of which have rims which abut edge to edge when the case is closed, a hinge comprising a pairof leaves adapted for I attachment to the inner faces of the respective case sectionrims and provided at their adjacent ends respectively witha hook and a pintle which are in separable pivoted engagement and are so carried by the leaves as to be located close to the outer edges of the case section rims when the leaves are attached to the inner faces of the rims, a latch slidably mounted on the leaf which is provided with the hook for reciprocation of the latch across the throat of the'hook and transversely of the'pintle into and out of a latching position in which the latch blocks passage of the pintle through the throat of the hook, and a' tion, a pair of hinge leaves separably and pivposition in which the latch blocks unhooking ofthe leaves and for swinging in unison with said ating portion of the latch is inaccessible, said latch being normally spring-urged into latching position and being releasable by pressure on said actuating portion.

5. A separable hinge for connecting edgewisely abuttable rim walls of the base and cover sections of an enclosing case for portable typewriting machines, comprising two hinge leaves having attachment portions for fixing thereof to the inner faces of the rim walls to be hinged, a hook'extending'laterally from the attachment portion of tending laterally from the attachment portion of the other leaf to said pintle at opposite sides of the hook, a latch'having a supporting portion slidably held to the hook-carrying leaf for reciprocation of the latch across the throat of the hook transversely of the pintle into and out of a latching position in which the latch blocks passage of the pintle through the throat of the hook, said latch having an actuating portion which extends laterally from its supporting portion in the same direction as the hook and terminates at its free end in a hook-throat blocking portion movable into and out of blocking position by reciprocation of the latch.

6. A separable hinge as claimed in claim 5, wherein the pintle supporting means is provided with means for guiding the hook into engagement about the pintle.

7. A hinge comprising a pintle-carrying leaf, a latch and hook carrying leaf, a sliding latch, and a pintle rod fixedly held at both of its ends to the pintle-carrying leaf, said pintle-carrying leaf comprising a plate-like attachment portion and a pintle-carrying portion bent at a right angle to the plane of said attachment portion and having two lugs projecting from its outer end and rolled about the ends of the pintle rod, said rolled lugs having lugs extending from their adjacent edges and located opposite the attachment portion, said hock-carrying leaf comprising a plate-like attachment portion and a hook-carrying portion extending at a right angle thereto with the open throat of the hook at the opposite face of the hook-carrying portion from the attachment por-- tion of the leaf, the hook being hooked over the pintle rod between said rolled lugs and said other lugs and having stop shoulders engageable with said other lugs to limit pivotal movement between the hinge leaves in a direction which swings theirattachment portions into angularly disposed relation, said latch comprising a metal strap having two spaced parallel legs joined at one end only, said latch at the joined end of the legs being slidablyextended through an aperture in the hook-carrying part of the hook-carrying leaf and having that one of its legs which is farthest from the hook slidably held to and guided to move endwisely on that face of the attachment portion of said leaf which is farthest from the hook, the legs of the latch extending transversely of the pintle rod and of the open throat of the hook.

EDWIN L. HARMON. 

